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Friday, July 31, 2015

It was a mighty productive morning around here. The first thing I did was try to make the tassel pine cone pattern with variegated thread. I don't usually like using it for most things. The patterns it creates are often not pleasing to my eye, but for this knotted lace, it seems perfect. In fact I liked it so much that I dug out all the ones I had on hand. Most are Lisbeth, but a couple are hand dyed, not by me of course. Anyway I really loved the effect, so this is how I listed them as pendants. In fact I'm quite pleased to say that I have one going off to a new home this morning and I'm making a pair of earrings to send off today as well. Hopefully I'll get a couple more pairs made up and actually list them as earrings as well.

Once I had that listing up I decided to try the round pieces in the thicker thread and they work up surprisingly well. In fact I'm starting to become convinced that I'm just better at everything in size 10 thread. I thought a nice spot on top would be good for hanging, but now I think it looks a little silly so I'll likely remake it without that feature and then it can be a pendant as well. It holds it's shape quite well under pressure, so I'm confident it should wear well.

So I guess this weekend will be more Armenian knotted lace experiments. Oh, I am also sending the pair of Romanian Point Lace barefoot sandals to a home as well, so I can start designing my own pair from the ground up. It'll be hard not to copy the previous pair, but at least I now have permission from myself to work on the RPL again, so the weekend has plenty of options planned.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Well I did have a much better day even if I didn't accomplish too much. I got a small sale in the morning, so I had a tatted mustache necklace to make. That only took a short time, so I went straight onto the idea I had with the needle-lace oya pine cone. While I was working on that idea I tried to get a clearer idea on the oya front as to names for the different types and honestly I came away with more names. Seems oya simply means lace, so the type refers to how it's made, tatting, crochet, knotted, etc. So I'm just going to keep using Armenian lace for now since that's the book I'm learning from calls it, even if it is from the 20's. Anyway here's the pine cone in larger black thread started on a tatted ring. It's destined to become a pendant today I think. I even managed to work up the whole piece including the tassel with one length of thread and the whole thing was made with my tatting needle and for some reason I'm proud of that.

The rest of the day I tried and mostly failed to get a doily started. I'm fine in the center and then as it works out with larger loops, my ability to keep those loops consistent falls apart and thus the design falls apart. I really do love the centers though, they look so neat. Maybe I'll just work a center round into a pendant as well. I just have to try it with larger thread and see how it handles. After that maybe I'll give the flowers a try. They seem to use mostly the small loops that I apparently have down already. I really do want to achieve one of the doilies at some point though, they seem like they require the most skill and I want that skill...someday.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

So it appears that it is that time of the year again. Luckily this doesn't happen too frequently, but when it does I feel I must rant at least a little. When you use one of my free patterns or purchase one from my etsy store, I request both in the listing and on the pattern itself that you please use them for personal use or offline sale only. This is of course because I sell my own pieces online and I don't want to compete with my own designs. I know that not every designer feels this way, but many do and even though this is not a legally enforceable mandate(who can honestly afford trademark or patents?), most people comply, I assume out of common courtesy or respect. Every once in a a while though someone fights me on it. Yesterday was that day. I fought a seller on esty whom I had asked to remove the listings made with my patterns. In the end it appears courtesy lost and she refuses to remove the listings. I of course have no recourse and the worst part is that when some people see those listings they will assume I gave permission or that is is fine for them to do it as well and I won't be able to stop the bleeding.

Okay, I may be being hyperbolic, but these events always cause me so much stress. This one even had the added bonus of a bad review for a sale pattern that called out this policy and then stated that they didn't even need the pattern because they could see how to make it anyway. It's everything I can do to keep myself from pulling down all my patterns and never listing another to avoid this in the future. It really is a lot of stress. I mean I get a nervous stomach just sending the messages. I didn't even find the listing myself, but someone had asked if my policy had changed because they saw the listing and so I had to send the message. I know that most people who use and buy pattern have no interest in selling and that to pull them down would be an overreaction, but I still just want the stress to stop. Anyway, I think it's mostly out of my system now, provided that no more of it rears it's ugly head anytime soon.

So back to making things. It was hard to get through any oya yesterday as I kept getting distracted and then shaky from the afore mentioned drama, but I did get some done. This first one here is called the basket stitch in the book I'm using. I like that it looks like little stars after the third row is done. I also like that I don't have any ends to hide when I cut off the threads with this. The knots are so tight, I can't seem them unraveling ever.

This next one is my favorite so far. The book refers to it as a pine cone and adds a tassel to the end. This is the first bit that I can imagine as a piece of jewelry. In fact I may try it out with thicker thread and see how it looks today, provided that I'm not distracted again. Oh, how I hope that drama is all done for now. Sorry, I know, I thought I was done too. Here's hoping today is better and thank you to everyone who does understand and respect my request. Thank you to all of you who support my work and give me confidence to learn new things and occasionally design new things. I need that more than you know.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

I finished up the tatted heart order fairly early in the morning. I thought that I'd just go ahead and look for something else to learn. Turkish Oya had been suggested before, but I'd had issues finding anything to teach me what I actually wanted to learn. The little I'd sussed out about Oya, was that it appears to be any thread based adornment to the edges of garments. It seems to refer to tatting, crochet and the knotted lace, which is the one I wanted to learn. Eventually I found a link to an old Priscilla book called Armenian Lace and it was exactly the lace I was looking for all along.

As you can see here, it was not an instant success. So far, it appears to just be this simple knot spaced out properly to create all the designs. I got the knot fairly quickly, but trying to control the spaces was a challenge for me. Thankfully I had nothing better to do, so I continued to practice until it started looking right. I even felt confident enough to try it in a round. That skill needs some serious work, though I think I got the simple edge pretty good.

I went back to edgings after trying the one round piece. I really need to work on those spaces and this edging had picot loops as well to try out. I find this one bloody adorable. It also looks like there's a way to simple cut the lace off the fabric and make it stand alone because these knots are seemingly indestructible. I clearly have a lot of reading and work ahead of me, but I think I can add another form of lace to my list of, 'at least I've tried it'. Maybe I can later add to the list of things I'm actually good at, you know, one day.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Well, unfortunately nothing too terrible interesting occurred over the weekend to give me much to do. Instead it was a quiet family weekend with errands to run and movies to see with friends. The only craft I got up to until Sunday was this felted art kit I mentioned before. There is something therapeutic about all the stabbing necessary to make felted stuff and this was no exception. Once I'd finished the picture, I picked up a cheap, blank canvas bag and sewed it on. Not that I needed any more bags, but I'll put it to use anyway and even more importantly it gave me something to accomplish for the weekend.

On late Saturday I got a request to make up some small black tatted hearts for my same wonderful customer who had me make some small red ones not too long ago. It's not a huge project, but it gave me some tatting to do yesterday and I have just a little more to finish today. After that's done I'm hoping for something to fall out of the sky as usual, because I am truly at the end of my projects. So many things are just waiting for some criteria to be fulfilled before I can get back to them. I need to sell some RPL before I make more, I need another pair of bobbins before I make more, I need more tatting to sell so I have something to remake, or I need an idea or request so I can make something new. I'm on the edge of a thread knife here, just waiting.

Friday, July 24, 2015

I finished everything I was working on yesterday. That might sound like a good thing, but it's left me with the task of figuring out what to do next. I got all the crystals sewn on the last piece of tatting I was remaking for the shop. So, very, many, crystals. Then I got that necklace actually put together and in the shop again.

I took a few breaks from crystal sewing to get the purple necklace from yesterday photographed and listed. Then as I was about to list the barefoot sandals I realized that I had yet to ask for permission to sell something made from another person's design. I did modify it quite a bit for my purposes, but not enough that you wouldn't recognize it from it's original form, so permission would be needed. Thankfully a fairly quickly answered email granted that permission for me. I know I've posted it here before, but in case you wanted to learn Romanian point lace, the tutorial here by Joanne is so straight forward you can't go wrong. Once I had completed it, I was off with enough background information to start making my own pieces.

So that leaves me with plans for today. Yeah, I don't really have any. The shop has been in ghost town mode since my sale ended, so new pieces really need remaking. I've got a few rpl cords made up, but I'm hesitant to make anymore pieces until one of them actually sells from the new section. I'm still one pair of bobbins short from having enough to try any new patterns and without some sales in the shop, I can't justify buying any more. I've got some felted art kits I got a couple of weekends ago I can use to waste some time, but as usual I'd prefer some inspiration or a sale. Here's to a weekend where the Universe sends me something interesting and amazing. If not, I'll poke some wool for awhile to keep my hands busy.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

It was a nice long day with the rpl stuff again. I pulled out some purple thread early and got to work on something new. The purple thread was a gift during a holiday gift exchange years ago so I don't remember where it came from nor what size it is, though I'd hazard a guess that it's size 20. I used the same hook to make the cord with, but it still worked up smaller. I decided early to make it into something small. I worked the cord into a nice asymmetric shape. Then instead of just hanging it on a chain I opted to just crochet a chain. I thought that might be too plain though so I figured out a way to add beads to it while working. I'm hoping to pop this in the shop today.

I also took some time to get the first rpl pieces I finished photographed as barefoot sandals. The plan is to get them in the shop today as well. I think that they definitely work better as barefoot sandals too. I think that once I get these all up in my shop, I'll just work a few more to fill up the new Romanian Point Lace section, not that I've sold any yet. Then I suppose I'll have no choice but to get back to tatting, or maybe the bobbin lace. I still have yet to figure out what I can make with the bobbin lace that fits my aesthetic. I guess yet again I have plenty to do should I choose to do it.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Yesterday went just as planned. I got hardware put of two of the Romanian point lace pieces and I used the macrame slide clasp on the last. There weren't enough opinions to give me any kind of clear answer on which was preferred. Though given the little feedback I did get I may try to develop a loop closure sometime in the future. I got the necklace put up first and I was trying to space out the new listings a bit, so I only got one bracelet in the shop yesterday. The other one will go in later this morning.

I spent most of the rest of the day catching up on television with the kids and crocheting new cords for whatever idea comes next. That familiar desperation to sell something is sneaking up on my creativity and threatening to bludgeon it over the head so it's taking everything to keep making. The calm repetition of making the cords seems to be working for now.

Hopefully an idea or two will come to me today so I can keep right on working. If not I'll just keep on crocheting, or I suppose I could get back to sewing crystals on the last tatted necklace I was remaking. I suppose ideas or not, I'll keep my hands busy at least.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

I started the day with plans to watch my nieces, but they apparently slept in and we had the house to ourselves for the day. I had two pieces of crochet cord and a desire to use them to make something, so I spent the day with them. This first one here is destined to be a bracelet like the last one. I went ahead and learned a couple new stitches for this one. I looked through an old lace book I got on the Antique Pattern Library. It's actually a book on Battenberg lace, but the concept seems the same save for the use of what I assume is the 'tape' in tape lace. It looks like ribbon and the cord serves the same purpose except with more surface area for stitching and hiding thread. I still didn't bother to learn the names of the stitches, just thought they looked neat and gave them a go.

This next one was still done without a pattern and simply by eyeballing, but I attempted to make it fairly symmetrical. I know it's not perfect, but if I'd wanted perfect I would have taken the time to drawn up a pattern. I thought this piece had an 'evil eye' vibe so if nothing else it already has a name. The plan is to add chains on the side of this one and turn it into a necklace.

I do have a question I need help with regarding the bracelets. Would you prefer them with metal lobster clasps or with the sliding macrame clasp I did on my last simple necklace? I want to try to get them in the shop today if I can figure that bit out. Oh, and I wouldn't hate price opinions on these either.

So today if I can figure out clasps and prices, I'll get these all up in my shop. If not I'll just sit on them another day. Either way I'll probably spend much of the day making new cords and thinking about what's next. I'm hoping to combine tatting and the Romanian point lace at some point, but the idea hasn't coalesced yet. These pieces definitely have potential as all sorts of pieces as I get braver and make larger ones. That might be a while though.

Monday, July 20, 2015

While I didn't get too much done over the weekend, my Friday was pretty eventful. I got all the newest jewelry listed in my etsy shop. Well, the tatted jewelry anyway. I'm still not sure what kind of price point to put on the RPL pieces. I mean they do seem to take me longer to make, but my level of expertise is quite low currently, so that can't really be taken into consideration yet. I guess I'll just need to think on it some more.

The rest of Friday I finally got creative and got to work with the newest piece of cord I made. I decided to forget about a pattern and went free-form instead. I took a piece of muslin, put a piece of clear liner on it and just made some measurement marks along the sides for size reference. Then I just started twisting the piece and tacking it down as I went. The only plan was a loop at the beginning and end so that it could become a bracelet in the end.

I also had no real plan when it came to the stitching in between. I
know how to make many of the stitches I've seen used, though I've no idea what they are named. I should probably look into that a bit. Anyway, I used a few different designs, mostly randomly throughout the piece trying to keep that whole free-form theme going. I have to say that I really like the chaos here. I mean my tatting is usually very precise with more math than I care to admit involved in its creation. This is relatively uncontrolled and a lot of fun. Not that I don't enjoy precise because I do love that as well.

I made up a couple more cords over the weekend with my sitting time. My etsy shop has quieted right down again like I hoped it wouldn't, so I'm going to focus on anything else for a spell. Anything to keep me making something. Hopefully I'll get a couple more of these made and not freeze up when determining a price so I can list them in my shop. Here's hoping.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Well I'm afraid I've got nothing interesting to share today either. I played with the needle felting for awhile, but I didn't take any photos of it to share. I also sat and crocheted cord for quite some time as well. I did take a photo of that and I think that you'll agree it's a terribly boring photo. I still don't have a solidified idea for what to do with this cord. I think I want to try to make a bracelet, but what that's going to look like is a complete mystery at this point.

We spent a good chunk of time at the dentist's office for all of our appointments, but we escaped without cavities so it was a good visit. I did not feel like doing much work after that though. Today the husband is back to work, so I think I'm going to try to get my most recent tatted creations finished, photographed and listed in my shop. I might even bite the bullet and list the RPL pieces I already made as barefoot sandals or slave bracelets, or most likely as both since they seem to work both ways. I guess we'll see how the day goes, but as usual I'm hoping for a sale or custom request to help fuel my creativity. Here's hoping for a good weekend.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

So I got nothing done yesterday at all. We ran some errands early in the day and I picked up a couple of clearance needle felting art kits. Did I need them? Nope, but there is something therapeutic about stabbing something repeatedly with a long sharp needle, so I got them. The family spent most of the day just sitting about watching movies and relaxing once the errands were done. I sat and stabbed wool for awhile and then worked on that crochet cord for awhile. I'm still not certain what I plan to do with it. I spent some time looking at existing patterns online, but nothing jumped out at me. I'll just keep crocheting until something looks good since I can always cut the cord if I need to.

So since I don't have any crafts to sow you or even any good tales, here's a picture of an octopus from our trip to the aquarium. Today is just more of the same plus a dental appointment, so here's hoping for something interesting.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

After a long morning walk and some errands, we were mostly home yesterday. Mostly home means that I had plenty of sitting time and that translates into tatting time. First I worked up the new little piece into a bracelet. While it may appear straight forward, there was a little finagling to create it in one pass. Though once I got the trick down it worked up easily and fairly straight with the first try.

Once that was made I went straight onto the necklace version. It required a bit of a stitch count change so that it would curve a bit. For bracelets close to straight is better, but I like some designs to sit just at the base of the neck and that needs a curve. After that was done, I went ahead and made another of the first motif to create a pair of earrings. I still need to add hardware to all the pieces and I will probably get them all in the shop on Friday when the husband is back to work. I get terribly self conscious taking listing photos of myself when anyone besides the children are around. I even tend to wait until they're busy elsewhere to do so.

The last thing I did in the evening was to start crocheting a new RPL cord. I didn't get very far and I'm not entirely sure what I plan on making with it, but I suppose I'll figure it out as the day goes by. There are no big plans for the day and I'm taking my time remaking a large crystal necklace. I still have many, many crystals to sew on and it's mind numbing work. Mixing it in with other projects is just the best way to go.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

I started the day finishing up a couple of orders and putting them into the mail, but after that I started a different project. I have been having headphone issues. The pair I love and still sounds great has cuts and let's be honest cat based damage. I tried to find new ones that weren't expensive, but it was for naught. Instead I opted for a free fix of covering the wires. There are tutorials all over on how to do so with embroidery floss, but I didn't need them or the floss. I used some thin acrylic yarn and the same half hitch knot that we use to make Josephine chains. I think it probably has a dozen different names depending on what knot based craft you do. It took most of the day to do, but it worked just fine.

After I finished that task I did a little design work. I wanted to do some bobbin lace, but it turns out I need a minimum of 14 pairs of bobbins to try the next batch of patterns and as I have only 13, they will have to wait a bit longer. Instead I just doodled a bit and came up with this little piece. I tried a few variations of it, but I think the first one here might have been the best. Clearly it makes a perfect earring or pendant design. Next I want to see if I can extend the basic design into an edging of sorts. I'm not sure how yet. I already tried one way and failed pretty spectacularly.

The husband is taking most of the week off, so I'm not certain what, if anything I'll accomplish. I will try to get this design worked on a bit though. I also think I should do a bit more RPL while I still remember how. I need to commit the basic techniques to memory by repetition, or I'll have to relearn everything again if I ever want to keep doing it. So I guess what I'm saying is that I have plenty to do if I have the time.

Monday, July 13, 2015

I don't think I mentioned that we were going out of town for the weekend. We always head out to Monterey for our anniversary, this time it fell on a weekend which is good and bad. Good because I didn't have to worry about my shop as much, but bad because it's a bit more crowded everywhere we go. It was quite a bit more sunny than usual as well. In fact I got a bit burnt the first day out. I think it was the hiking at Point Lobos that did it, but the rest of the day was outside too, so it really doesn't matter what bot of sun got me.

I didn't take any tatting with me, but our hotel is right next to an antique mall, so there was plenty of lace. I can't help but identify every piece I see, though most of it was crochet there was some tatting, and a tiny bit of bobbin lace. I was on a bit of a hunt for the bobbins themselves though. I found a few in terrible condition and while I might have been able to rehabilitate them, they were also nine dollars a piece and that is far too much for a fixer upper.

Then I ran into this jar. It was chock full of bobbins in pretty good shape. They were still five dollar a piece so I couldn't justify getting more than a couple of them. I guess that puts me up to 13 pairs of bobbins so I might have a couple more patterns I can try out soon. These are the times that I wish I was one of those people who got left their grandmother's lace tools. No such luck. The closet thing I got was a handkerchief with a tatted edging from a great grandmother given to me by my grandmother when she passed.
I still have some tatting to get back to before I'm back to the bobbins though. I got a couple of small orders over the weekend, so I need to take care of those first. I also think I might just need to rest a bit after a weekend of so much walking. I do miss the cool coastal air already though.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Just a quick note this morning as we're off to the coast for our anniversary. I just wanted to thank you all again for shopping and sharing during my sale and mostly for not getting too annoyed at all my sale talk in the first place. It definitely helped not only financially, but it also got me tatting again and that feels great. Hopefully when we get back I'll still be in a tatting mood and the store won't stay quite as quiet. Thanks again and have a fiber filled weekend!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Okay, so today is the very last day of my SALE! This is the last time I will bother you with this information. Use the code 'SUMMER25' for 25% off everything in my etsy store. Yesterday saw no sales in the shop at all, so I think perhaps it's already at a natural end. So far it's made a good dent in our car repair bills, but nowhere near making them disappear. Still it was definitely one of the ost successful sales I've ever run. I'm crossing my fingers that the revival of my shop sticks.

Yesterday I spent all day working on tatting up one of my bigger necklaces. This one is made up of small squares that I add crystals to and then link together. I barely managed to finish all the squares for it and sewed crystals on only a few of them so far. To today will likely be spent working on just that. I don't think that I sold much else during the sale that needs to be remade. There were a few one of a kind pieces, so maybe when the remaking is done I'll try to get some new one offs made. They require a certain kind of inspiration though, so we'll see if it comes. Well, it's certainly not with me this morning as I can't think of anything else to share. I guess I'm off to it then and thanks once again for all your support of my sale!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

While I did pretty much spend all day yesterday tatting, I managed to forget to take a picture of anything I made. I finished one mask, made a bracelet, a pendant necklace and followed it up with another, not quite finished yet, mask. There are no pictures of these things though since they are all just remakes of existing pieces. I did take a picture of one of the kids' pet rats though, so since it's the only one I took, it's the picture you get. This is Meg snacking on the couch. Right after this picture she scaled me like a mountain to get another piece of granola bar.

I did get a couple more sales yesterday, so again, thanks to those of you who shopped and shared! I also apologize for being one track minded lately regarding the sale. The bobbin lace and RPL are just sitting about waiting for me to come back to them, but I need to focus on the shop for a while. I'm still hoping to erase most of those car bills and it would be awesome if this was the kick the shop needed to get back to a steady flow of sales. I think that all this tatting might be inspiring me to design soon too. Here's hoping!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

I managed to keep myself busy all day long. I started out getting all the orders into the mail and then went to to remaking my newest choker, the one with the macrame slide closure. I really love that I don't have to add any hardware when I'm done. I do have to add a dot of glue to the knot of the closure though. I suppose that's not at all the same. I also had to open my last ball of black thread. I was sharing yesterday that every time I open a new ball of thread I smell it. I thought this was weird, but apparently I'm not the only one who inhales new products, though mostly it was books people admitted to smelling, but I digress. After I opened that ball of thread, I worked on remaking a bracelet for the rest of the morning.

At lunchtime I got a new order that contained a custom color piece, so I had my task for the afternoon. This one is a purple and black version of my Celtic triangles necklace. The original red and black one is sitting in the bag beneath the new flowery bits. I almost always drag out a finished piece when I'm making a new one to remind me of the stitch counts, because you know I still rarely write things down.

After that necklace was done, I moved onto remaking masks. Since I was low on eye wires, I started by making new ones of those. I actually quite enjoy just playing with the wire as a diversion from the thread. I've already gotten halfway through one mask, but there is another in queue to be remade as well, so I think that might be the entirety of my day. I fear my sale may have already run it's course, but I'll continue to push it until the 9th when it's scheduled to expire. I'm still only about halfway to making the car repair bills disappear, so I'll end this post with another reminder to shop and/or share my sale if you can. It's a good 25% off everything in my shop with the code 'SUMMER25'. Thanks again for all the support so far!

Monday, July 6, 2015

Well, we managed to keep pretty busy this weekend despite any real plans. On Friday I tagged along with my kids on Grandma day and that ate up most of my day, then there was 4th of July stuff, and a bit of running around. What time I had left I devoted to working on a custom order that I got from my sale. I had two pieces to make for that order and it was my first priority since everything else sold so far is already made. The one thing that's always interesting about custom color pieces is that they are so very often color combinations that I would have never thought to put together myself.

After those pieces were made it was onto some of the sold pieces. I've been lucky enough to sell a pair of barefoot sandals, a pair of cat ears, some bracelets and quite a few other pieces. So far I've remade the barefoot sandals, the ears, and an anklet. I've enough pieces in queue that I had to bite the bullet and order more black thread. This is the first time I've ordered supplies in months and it was weird.

I did take a bit of a break from tatting over the weekend and I
got a second piece of RPL made to match the last one. They're not exactly the same of course, but I think close enough to be a pair. So here's the new dilemma, I think they also look great as barefoot sandals, so how do I sell them? Do I just list them as a pair that can be both slave bracelets and barefoot sandals, or do I make yet another so I can sell it as a single as well? Or am I getting ahead of myself entirely since I've never sold anything like this and I don't even know what to charge for it anyway? Or is there even a market for them?

I suppose I'll be thinking on all that today while I work on getting some more order in the mail. The sale has been doing well. I'm crossing my fingers that it keeps it up this week so I really make a dent in some of these car repair bills. Of course what I really hope is that some of this momentum continues after the sale and my shop gets at least a little busier than it's been. Remember the sale only runs through the 9th and the code is 'SUMMER25' for 25% off everything including patterns. Please do share the code with anyone you think might be interested. I really appreciate everyone who has shopped and shared so far!

Friday, July 3, 2015

I started yesterday by finishing the crochet cord for the next lace piece I wanted to try. I thought that the first motif I did would look great as a slave bracelet if I could add a bit more to it. Of course then there were errands to run and walks to take with the kids, so it was put aside. When we got back I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and run a coupon code sale in my shop. These things have never worked all the well for me in the past, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I've got the sale running through the 9th of July. It's 25% off everything in the shop with the code 'SUMMER25'. I woke up to far more sales than I expected. I know my expectations were very low, but now I'm hoping that I can actually make a dent in those car bills. So please do share the code about if you think anyone could use it for patterns or my tatted lace.

Speaking of lace, once I'd gotten the sale up and running and posted about, I got back to the new piece. I made some different choices with regards to the fill in stitching. I was also much more precise with all the stitching this time. It also helped that I'm using a nice vintage looking color. It's actually a discontinued cebelia thread. Anyway, I added a finger loop and again I went with the crochet cord and macrame slide closure. I am really loving using that, of course part of the reason is the simple lack of cost associated with it. It's just thread and you know that I have plenty of that. I even tried this on my foot and so help me, it looks really neat as a barefoot sandal too. To that end I've started another cord to do a second one. I need to see if I can make a matching piece with a used pattern. It should work, but this is all new territory for me.

The husband is off work today, so I might not get much done. I do have plenty of work though. I've got all those wonderful orders to attend to, the pieces that sold will need to be remade, and I have this RPL to work on. I'll also keep pushing the sale in my shop and crossing my fingers that the momentum holds.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

We had one niece over yesterday morning, but that was it. It was nice and quiet and the kids entertained themselves for the most part. I started the day by finishing the stitching on the black piece of lace I started the day before. I'm not certain I would go with some of the choices I made in retrospect as it made the piece a bit denser than I wanted, but for my second try and my first design, I'm going to go ahead and call it a win.

I just kept playing with the piece until I decided that it would in fact make an interesting bracelet. It was a bit too short for me to put just a clasp on and I didn't want to waste a bunch of jump rings making it long enough, so I came up with a solution. I would crochet a tight chain on either side and then use one of those slide closures they use on macrame pieces. Even though I learned macrame in school, so very many friendship bracelets, I'd never done one of those closures. So that took me on a quest around the Internet to learn that skill. Luckily my earlier macrame knowledge was all I needed and before you know it, I had a bracelet.

I even test wore it all day, while doing laundry, and dishes, and even when we had to finally go out and pick up our car that had been in the shop for nearly two weeks. Don't be surprised if I try running a sale very soon to hopefully make some money. Our car repairs have now run into four digits and the money stress is very real. I even took some time to list a newish piece to see if it would help, it hasn't yet. This was one of the lengths I tatted during College for Kids. The new closure for my bracelet inspired me to try that on a necklace to make a completely metal free piece. I even took a picture of me wearing it even though I still feel less than photogenic. If you want to see that it's one of the listing photos here.

I'm working on another cord for a piece of undermined RPL. I've got an idea, but I still need to sketch it out. I also need to do something to get things to pick up in my shop. I'm open to suggestions, but I think you can except a coupon code to appear on my facebook page later today or tomorrow. That is unless the Universe hears and has pity on me soon. Yeah, don't worry I'm not holding my breath either. I'm just going to go and make some more lace and think.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Well we had a nice recovery day around here after the previous kid filled day. It was quiet and I got much done. I finished making the crochet chain I needed for my first go at the Romanian point lace early in the day and got it all tacked done and ready to go. If you're curious and want to give it a go as well, the tutorial I used is here. All you need is needles, thread, some plain fabric and some contact paper. Though those last two can be replaced with some paper according to other site. I had everything, so i decided to just follow the one tutorial all the way through.

Once it was all tacked down the embroidery work began and it worked up fast. Even though I clearly made some shaping mistakes that I'm just going to chalk up to it being my first try, I'm still pretty proud of myself. In fact almost immediately began making another cord, this time in black, so I could experiment. I thought about just looking for more existing patterns to try, but the whole construction process seems to free form that I felt it simple to just make something up as I went.

I used a simple Celtic knot design for the cording and, well, I'm
making up the fill in stitches as I go.The spaces are probably not as big as they should be for some really fancy work, but it's definitely giving me some quick practice. Aside from the sheer length of time it takes to crochet the cord, it's a craft that can have some immediate gratification. I mean once the embroidery portion begins, the progress is obvious. I think I'll keep playing around with this for a spell. I have a sense that it has potential to be easily joined with my tatting. More practice is required first though.